Category Archives: Birds

Summer Vacation - Hike and Bike!

We set out to see parts of the Eastern US we’d never been to. [photo gallery] Our secondary goal was to find hiking and bicycle trails along the way. It turned out to be very difficult to identify acceptable cycling trails on the Web. The various “trails” websites, etc. are frequently misleading. For example, we were looking [...]

Philadelphia Scenes

Photo Gallery

Still Life - Dead Cardinal with Pine Cone

Found him by the side of the road.
Sad but beautiful even in death.

Photo Gallery - Birds and Bugs

Took some photos in south Florida recently. These are both from Pass-a-Grille near the beach. The flies were taken as a three exp. HDR and tone compressed.
This great egret was in a small ornamental square next to a parking lot. I had to maneuver to free the background of car trunks and garbage cans. Note the [...]

The Burden of Plastic Trash

This poignant photo essay ”Message from the Gyre” by Chris Jordan shows how plastic trash affects albatross chicks on Midway Island. The Gyre is a circular current that helps maintain the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Adult birds scoop up small items while feeding and pass them on to their nestlings. One dead chick was found to have 250 [...]

Everglades Canoe Trip 2010

Back to the Everglades for an eight day expedition with my friend Al Borchers [photo gallery]. This year we decided to attempt some more difficult routes, starting with a long paddle to North River Chickee on the first day. It was quickly apparent that the “great freeze of 2010″ had occurred the week before—there were [...]

Yucatan Trip 2009 - Uxmal Ruins

Just back from a short vacation in the Yucatan with my brother and sister-in-law. We started and ended our tip at Merida, which has a delightful old city center to explore. [photo gallery] First on our list was Uxmal, my personal favorite! Located in the gently rolling Puuc Hills, it is one of several significant Late [...]

Birds, Dance, and Neuroscience on YouTube

This video is sure to brighten your day! Apparently it was thought only humans could dance to a beat. Lots of animals can be trained to go through the motions, but they cannot actually respond to music in complex ways. That was until the world discovered Snowball the Cockatoo!

Check out additional video with the NPR [...]

Barred Owl

I met this fellow while canoeing at sunset. The Barred Owl (Strix varia) is common in North Florida. I hear him almost every week. He says “Who cooks, who cooks for you allllll” so I guess you could say he’s a southern bird at heart. <wink>

The Ultimate Bird

Every Spring I look forward to the return of Swallow-Tailed Kites (Elanoides forficatus) from their South American sojourn. I’ve seen two so far this year. In the US this bird is almost unique to Florida, where it comes to breed. I can still remember the first time I saw one driving along a rural [...]